Kojima is at it again.
Before we begin I feel like I should give fair warning that this post is mostly a rant. I've been thinking long and hard about Death Stranding and honestly I've got a few things to say, so if you're still reading do enjoy.
The release of Metal Gear Solid V way back in 2015 was a little overshadowed by the very public feud that was going on between series creator Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami. Of course all this came to an end with Konami firing Kojima, leaving fans to wonder, what would happen to Metal Gear and more importantly, what would happen to Kojima.
Look no further than the Pachinko machines and Metal Gear Survive to see the state of that once great series but on a more pleasant note, shortly after all this drama had gone down, Sony announced that they had teamed up with Kojima and his production team and that they were working on a new game called Death Stranding.
Now two years on and after all the trailers and teasers that Kojima Productions have shown we still don't know what the game is about or when it's actually coming out.
What spurred me on to write this was the most recent trailer of Death Stranding shown at the Tokyo Games Show this year, you can watch it below.
Now I don't know about you but after watching this trailer I've started to notice a little bit of a pattern developing. Every time Kojima Productions releases a new trailer for this game, it's always some form of cutscene and it introduces a new character.
Apart from the small bit of gameplay we saw at E3 this year, nobody knows how this game actually works as a game. I know that Kojima is the type of director who focuses more on story and would happily spend all his time building the story and characters in promotional material.
But lets look back at Phantom Pain, sure it had its fair share of story trailers but bundled in with those were a few gameplay trailers as well. We got to see both sides of the coin with MGSV but with Death Stranding it's almost like Kojima is avoiding gameplay.
This got me worried about the where Kojima Productions are in terms of development. I'm aware that recently Kojima said they are now at the stage where he has a controller in his hands and the game is coming together as a whole, but my question is, how long have they been in this phase?
If it's the case that Kojima and the team have only entered this stage of development then it could be a little while longer before we get anything substantial gameplay wise and that isn't exactly the best thing in the world. If rumors are to be believed then the PlayStation 5 could be hitting out shelves sometime in 2020.
I have a serious hunch, if you will, that Sony are planning to use Death Stranding as a launch title for the PS5. It wouldn't be the first time a Kojima game was used as a PlayStation launch title, that mantle sits with Metal Gear Solid 2 and while it wouldn't be a bad thing to see Death Stranding launch alongside a new console I think it would dampen the legacy that Sony have built this console generation.
The PS4 didn't have a great launch line-up but since its release in 2013 it has gradually built up a fantastic selection of firs-party titles. God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, I could keep going but it is a damn big list.
The point I am trying to make is that Death Stranding is shaping up to be Sony's most ambitious first-party release for the PS4 and if the PS5 is landing on store shelves in 2020 then Death Stranding would be a fantastic way to cap off the PlayStation 4's legacy and I suppose end the current console generation with a bang.
We'll probably be hearing from Death Stranding one more time this year. As everyone knows, Game Awards host, Geoff Keighley, is best mates with Hideo Kojima so it is very likely that Death Stranding will be showing its ambiguous head at The Game Awards this December.
And hey even if Death Stranding is released on PS5, I'll still be playing it. Can't deny the game still looks pretty awesome.
For more on Death Stranding.
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